Despite fashion’s undeniable status as a global phenomenon, spawning fashion weeks in and supplying us with street-style inspiration from every major and minor city across the globe, Africa is in this regard still considered a blank page. However, designer Laurence Chauvin Buthaud went on to challenge the wide-spread notion of the Black Continent being a mere consumer rather than producer of own unique designs that are strong enough to compete with established Western fashion brands.

Having already set up a womenswear line, increasingly more men approached her asking to design for them, leading to the inception of her menswear brand Laurenceairline. With its workshops located in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast, the Paris-based brand fuses European tailoring with the designer’s own African heritage and its distinct aesthetic, while retaining ethical and eco-friendly production methods and conditions.